【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the effects of LncRNA MEG3 on LPSinduced bronchial epithelial cell proliferation, apoptosis and inflammatory factor secretion. Methods 16HBE cells were cultured in vitro, and the inflammatory injury model was established by LPS treatment. The contents of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). MTT was used to detect the cell proliferation rate. The apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry. The expression of meg3 in 16HBE cells induced by LPS was detected by QRT-PCR. The logarithmic growth phase bronchial epithelial cells were treated with 50 μg/mL LPS for 24 hours as LPS group, and normal cultured cells as NC group. The main bronchial epithelial cells were transfected with Si-MEG3, Si-con and pcNDA for 48 hours, then treated with 50 μg/mL LPS for 24 hours. They were named as LPS+Si-MEG3 group, LPS+Si-CON group, LPS+pcDNA-meg3 group and LPS+pcDNA group, respectively. MTT and flow cytometry were used to detect the changes of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of activated caspase 3, cleaved caspase 9 and cyclin D1. Results The levels of IL-8, IL-1β,apoptosis rate and the expression of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9 in LPS group were significantly higher than those in NC group (P＜0.05). Compared with NC group, the cell proliferation rate and the expression levels of cyclin D1 and meg3 were significantly decreased (P＜0.05). The expression level of meg3, the cell proliferation rate and the relative expression of cyclin D1 in the LPS+si-MEG3 group were significantly lower than those in the LPS+si-CON group (P＜0.05). Compared with the LPS+si-CON group, the levels of IL-8, IL-1β, apoptotic rate, relative expression of cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 were significantly increased (P＜0.05). The levels of IL-8, IL-1β, apoptosis rate and the relative expression levels of cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 in the LPS+pcDNA-meg3 group were significantly lower than those in the LPS+pcDNA group (P＜0.05). Compared with the LPS+pcDNA group, the expression levels of meg3, cell proliferation and cyclin D1 were significantly increased (all P＜0.05). Conclusion Overexpression of LncRNA MEG3 promotes LPSinduced bronchial epithelial cell proliferation, inhibits apoptosis, and reduces inflammatory factor secretion. 